- 2024-08-09: Calgary to Seattle
- 2024-08-10: Seattle Harbor and Baseball
- 2024-08-11: Planes and Towers
- 2024-08-12: Seattle to Anchorage
- 2024-08-13: Gold, Wildlife, and Views
- 2024-08-14: Trolleys and Strolling
- 2024-08-15: Trains and Boats
- 2024-08-16: Sealife & Cruise Ships
- 2024-08-17: Glaciers and Relaxation
- 2024-08-18: Juneau, Mendenhall, and Salmon
- 2024-08-19: Dogs, Trains, and Disappointment
- 2024-08-20: Ziplines & Whales
- 2024-08-21: Totem Poles & Lumberjacks
- 2024-08-22: Scenery and Sushi
- 2024-08-23: Goodbye Radiance!
Darrell woke up early again this morning so he could return the rental car by 8:30am. He got back to the hotel at 9:00am. By then the rest of the family was cleaned up and had eaten breakfast. Well, except for Patrick. He was still feeling unwell so he stayed in bed. Darrell, Amanda, and Michael hung out in the lobby for a bit while Patrick slept. At 10:00am, we returned to the room and grabbed our gear for the day. Patrick decided to skip the tour so he could get some more sleep and try to recover.
We walked to downtown Anchorage to meet up with Tim. We had a Trolley Tour booked for 11:00am. We had to check-in for the tour at 10:45am. We were a little early to check-in so we perused the gift shop across the street and bought a few souvenirs. We checked-in for the Trolley Tour and boarded the Trolley. It was a 2 hour tour that took us around Anchorage. We went to Ship Creek which was right beside our hotel, the Alaska Railroad depot, Captain Cook monument, Earthquake park, and the float plane airport. The guide we had was great. She was a retired high school teacher who is now doing these tours. She had all sorts of entertaining stories for us. She talked about the 9.2 magnitude earthquake that tore through the area in the 1964. Amazingly, only 9 people were killed by the earthquake. Mostly because it happened on Good Friday while most people were at home. The downtown area was devastated, but no one was at work that day. At earthquake park, you can see evidence of the shockwaves that tore through the city. She also talked about the pilots in Alaska. One in seven residents of Alaska have their pilots license. The rest of the country is one in 1500. Planes are passed down from one generation to the next and children can start flying at age 14. By 17, they can have their pilots license. By age 15 they can be flying solo in an airplane, but aren’t old enough to drive a car alone. Since the family owns the plane and family is teaching them how to fly, cost isn’t an issue for them to learn.
After the tour, it was time to grab some lunch. Patrick was awake at this point and was ready to get out of the hotel room for a bit. Darrell headed back to the hotel to get Patrick while the others found a restaurant for lunch. We all met at 49th State Brewery. Darrell, Amanda, and Tim ordered the Yak burger. None of us had eaten Yak before. Yak was enjoyable, but the burger was messy.
After lunch, we went for a walk along the waterfront. There was a walk/bike path that we followed for a couple of miles. We ended up at parking lot where there was a playground and a bit of a lagoon. We relaxed there for a few minutes before turning around and tracing our steps back to downtown Anchorage. We continued on back to the hotel. Amanda wanted to get some laundry done before we board the ship in a couple of days. Michael went with Amanda and went for a swim in the hotel pool. Darrell, Tim, and Patrick walked back to downtown Anchorage to do some more souvenir shopping. Patrick picked up a couple of items. It was 7:00pm at this point and most of the stores were closed or closing, so Darrell and Patrick said goodbye to Tim and returned to the hotel.
The boys were hungry again somehow once we were all back at the hotel. We ordered some pizza for dinner and got ourselves packed up before calling it a night. It will be an early morning tomorrow.